Flames shoot into league lead in short-handed goals after Stempniak-Stajan tally on Wednesday

Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald12.05.2013

Calgary’s Matt Stajan, left, and Lee Stempniak celebrate a goal against the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday during the Flames’ 4-1 win. The duo has combined for half of the Flames’ league-leading six short-handed goals this season.

No one drools. All yippies are expressed silently. Hands are rubbed together only figuratively.

But when a penalty-killer sees a forward at the point, well, let’s just say it represents an enticing opportunity.

Which Mike Ribeiro provided Wednesday.

Which Matt Stajan and Lee Stempniak happily cashed in on.

The Phoenix Coyotes pivot, while trying to impede a short-handed foray from the aforementioned duo, did not look overwhelmed as much as disinterested. The result was a short-handed conversion — Stempniak’s.

“Well, I’m sure Mike Ribeiro didn’t defend too many two-on-ones in his career,” said Flames coach Bob Hartley. “There’s (an advantage) to putting a forward on the blue line. But, at the same time, there’s a danger.”

Dangerous is what the Flames’ penalty-killers are becoming.

They currently pace the National Hockey League with six shorties — Stempniak with two, Lance Bouma, Mikael Backlund, Blair Jones, Stajan — word of which will soon work its way around the land.

“It keeps the other teams on their toes,” said Hartley. “But I don’t really care how the other teams react to it. We want to apply pressure, so, obviously, we try to put our better skaters out there . . . guys that can read the play defensively. They all have the green light. As soon as we feel we can go, that’s the nature of our game. Our system is built on pressure and skating, so that’s the mentality.

“Whenever you can get a short-handed goal, it’s going to give a big boost to your hockey club.”

This particular boost has carried Stempniak and Stajan to the very top of the short-handed-points department, with three apiece. No player has generated more.

Stempniak, though, considers penalty-killing production a byproduct of the unit’s upgraded toil.

“It just seems like it’s our mindset now,” said Stempniak. “Not necessarily to score short-handed goals, but we’re trying to be aggressive and really pressure all over the ice. A lot of that is trying to disrupt the other team’s forecheck and kill part of the penalty in the offensive zone to really stall them. We’re doing a pretty good job of rolling the units over, getting fresh guys out there — then, when there’s a loose puck, jumping on it and trying to take advantage.

“We’ve got the speed and the smarts and the tenacity to do it. It’s nice.”

All skaters know the feeling of being on the ice for a short-handed goal against.

It’s a true boot in the tenders.

“Yeah, it’s hard — it can be demoralizing,” said Stempniak, whose club has surrendered three shorties. “Extremely frustrating. It can certainly throw you off . . . and maybe you play a touch more cautious on subsequent power plays.”

Saturday in Los Angeles, the penalty-killing pair of Paul Byron and Jones didn’t victimize a back-pedalling forward. But with bold pursuit of the puck, they made netminder Ben Scrivens pay dearly for his wipeout.

“We’ve been really aggressive,” said Backlund. “As soon as we see a loose puck, everyone is jumping, the whole unit is jumping. That’s the key. And we’re starting to buzz more in the offensive zone, too. Forechecking harder. We know if there’s four forwards and one defenceman, you’ve got to take advantage of it and try to make things happen even if we’re on the P.K. We’re a good-skating team, so everyone can hustle back.”

Currently, Flames penalty-killing is ranked 20th.

But over the past half-dozen contests, the squad has defused 20 of 21 power play opportunities.

“We weren’t too happy with where our P.K. was at the start of the year,” said Mark Giordano. “The best way to kill, obviously, is outside of your zone. When we’re able to (pressure) up ice, we do it. When you can play offence on the P.K., do it. If we can score, we’re going to try.”

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Flames shoot into league lead in short-handed goals after Stempniak-Stajan tally on Wednesday

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